Plainfield Fire Dept. Offers Tips For Staying Safe this Halloween

The Plainfield Fire Protection District offers the following Halloween safety tips for young ghosts and goblins:

• Avoid costumes with billowing or long trailing fabric and make sure the eye holes on masks are large enough to properly see out.
• Please teach your children to stay away from open flames (candles, touches, fire pits, etc.) and make sure they know how to stop, drop and roll if their clothing catches on fire by stopping immediately, dropping to the ground, covering their face with their hands, and rolling over and over to put the fire out.
• Have children carry flashlights or glow sticks while trick or treating.
• When decorating with cornstalks and crepe paper remember to keep them and other decorations away from open flames such as candles, and heat sources like light bulbs and heaters.
• The safest way to light your jack-o-lantern is with a flashlight or battery operated candle. If you do use a candle in your jack-o-lantern please keep it away from anything that will burn such as curtains or other decorations, and locate it so it will not be near children trick or treating, doorsteps, walkways and yards.
• Consider using flashlights as alternatives to candles or torch lights when decorating walkways and yards. The concern is for children who may get to close to an open flame and whose costume may brush against it.
• Always keep your exits clear of decorations so if there is a fire they do not block your escape route.
• When attending parties at others’ homes check for ways out of the home in the event of a fire and plan how you would get out. Teach children to plan this way as well.

The Plainfield Fire Protection District invites residents to visit its safety information booth during the Village of Screamfield’s family friendly haunted house at the Plainfield Police Department from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20.

The Village of Screamfield Haunted House at the Plainfield Police Department benefits the Plainfield School District 202 Foundation for Excellence and is presented by the Foundation for Excellence, the Plainfield Park District and the Plainfield Police Department.  For more information about this event please visit www.d202foundation.org.

For more information about fire and life safety please call the Plainfield Fire Protection District at 815-436-5335 or visit www.plainfieldfpd.com. Additional tips are available at the National Fire Protection Association’s Halloween Safety website at http://sparky.org/parentpage/parents.htm.